How to help your child when she falls behind

All parents worry about their child falling behind in class, not being able to keep up with the other children, not getting good grades.  But many parents don’t know what they can do to help their child get back on track quickly and easily.

In a few moments I am going to give you some ideas about what you can do to help your child when he falls behind in class.  First, I want to give you some reasons why children fall behind.

Children fall behind in class because;

1. They have missed some lessons because of illness or time off school
2. They have hidden physical or emotional issues that prevent them learning
3. They don’t know how to learn or how to keep up with the amount of information they are being taught

If your child is falling behind take a close look at these and decide which one fits your child.    Then you can decide what you need to do to help your child catch up and do well in school.

1. If your child has missed some schooling.

This is the easiest cause to correct.  You need to determine what your child has missed by asking your child’s teacher to give you a list of the work that was taught while your child was away. Then, armed with this information you need to find a tutor who can help your child go over the work and fill in the gaps.

Don’t hire a tutor without knowing what your child needs to learn to catch up.  You will be wasting your money and your child’s time!

1. If you suspect that your child has an emotional or physical issue that may prevent them learning.

All children have times when they cannot learn because they are going through some physical changes, have colds and ear infections or are upset about something.  I tell parents that I cannot teach a child whose dog died the day before.  The child’s brain is too busy trying to handle these issues to be able to spend any energy on learning.

It may be easy to recognize when a child has a physical issue – my advice is to get them to a doctor as soon as possible.  Especially with young children, ear infections or ‘growing pains’ are often the symptom of something that needs medical care.  Don’t delay.  Trust your instinct and get your child the help he needs to be able to get back to learning.

Emotional issues are harder to recognize.  But most mothers know when their child is unhappy or stressed or is losing confidence in his ability to learn.  Again, don’t wait, do something about it before a relatively small learning problem become a major learning difficulty.  If you don’t know or can’t find out what the issue is talk to your child’s teacher or take your child to someone who can discover why your child is not learning.  Once you know the cause of the problem it is easy to find solutions that work.

1. If your child is falling behind because s/he does not know how to learn

I hate it when parents – and students – tell me that they just can’t learn, that they are too stupid to ‘get it’.  The reason your child is falling behind is not because he can’t learn but because he doesn’t know how to learn.  He hasn’t developed all the fundamental learning skills he needs to be able to learn.

In this situation tutoring only helps the symptoms without addressing the cause of the problem – and your child will continue to fall behind.

You need to discover what learning skill your child needs to develop and how you can help him develop this skill.  Your child’s teacher may be able to help you; he may have the information you need.  If the teacher can’t help you need to find someone who can.  If you have the money, and know a good educational psychologist, they may be able to provide the information and advice you need.  If you want a less expensive way to get this information you could check out my programs that are designed specifically to help you understand why your child is struggling to learn.

Whatever you decide you need to -

1). Work out WHY your child is falling behind

2). Decide what type of support your child needs

3).  Discover how to provide that support.

And do it soon.  The longer you wait the more difficult it will be for your child to catch up.